From the February 2002 issue of THE INCUBATOR, the official
journal of Conchord Cayo Hueso, Inc.
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(10
February 2002) Marilyn Meister, a 75-year-old retired teacher from
Wisconsin, complained this month that the US government is fining her $7,500 for
going on a cycling holiday in Cuba.
Cevin Allen, of Seattle, told a Senate hearing he was fined $700 for
visiting Cuba for one day to bury the ashes of his parents by the church they
built as missionaries.
Their voices added to a growing clamor in the United States, from farmers
and industrialists to rights and church groups, calling for the lifting of
restrictions on travel by Americans to Cuba, part of 40-year-old trade embargo
against the island’s communist government.
The Bush administration has stepped up enforcement of the ban on Americans
spending dollars in Cuba, despite growing pressure to end the embargo, which has
already been eased to allow some food and medicine sales to Cuba. US officials
told a Senate appropriations panel that the restrictions were aimed at stopping
hard currency from flowing into Cuban President Fidel Castro’s government. They
argued tourist dollars would help prop up a regime that continues to harass and
imprison opponents, and the embargo would only be lifted once a transition to
democracy occurs.
But Sen. Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, said the ban was
interfering with the rights of Americans rather than punishing Castro.
The senator, who has visited Cuba to promote agricultural exports, plans
to propose legislation this spring to end the travel restrictions. “Castro has
been in office during the terms of 10 US presidents. That might persuade someone
that this is not working,” Dorgan said. He suggested the $1 million spent by the
Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to enforce the embargo
would be better used to counter terrorist activities. Critics of the embargo say
the best way to induce political change in Cuba is to open up trade and travel
to flood the island with dollars and new ideas.
Despite the fines, Americans are increasingly ignoring the travel ban.
According to OFAC, more than 150,000 US citizens visited Cuba last year, and
only two thirds were licensed under provisions for cultural exchanges and
limited commercial activities. Travel to other communist states, such as China,
Vietnam and North Korea, is permitted.
The travel ban is staunchly defended by the Cuban exile community in
the United States, which exerts considerable political influence in Florida.
“Such travel strengthens the regime and legitimizes the violation of rights of
the 11 million citizens of Cuba,” said Dennis Hays, executive vice president of
the Cuban American National Foundation. Hays told senators the hard currency
revenue generated by the tourism industry went to the Cuban government or fueled
prostitution on the island.
